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Question on growing Avocados in Adelaide South Australia.

Question on growing Avocados in Adelaide South Australia.

Hello,

I live in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The climate here istemperate.I want to grow some avocadoes in my backyard and I need to know whichvariety would suit.My local nursery sells Hass, Reed and Bacon. I intend to grow a Hass andReed, which I have tasted as being good, however I heard that avocadoes needpollinators due to their flowering pattern, hence the Bacon maybe a goodchoice with the Hass. Is this correct? Or can I simply grow Hass and Reedwhich are of the same flowering type ('A' I think)

Also I have never tasted a Bacon before, what is your opinion on it?I have grown a couple of avocado trees before, however, it leaves turnedblack and wilted. What is cause of this and how can I prevent it fromhappening again?

Cheers,Lam

The following thread was started by Lam on June 06, 2005 at 10:11 pm PST

Hi Lam, some of the other guys here will answer better for your climate. I am in NZ, wetter and much cooler than Adelaide in summer, but more or less similar in winter. All these var.s you speak of grow well for me, and do not need pollinators. Pollinators are really only esential if you have very high temperatures during flowering, as then the flowers have a very strict A or B pattern. In a cooler area, the flower patterns overlap and so pollination occurs. The essentials are still the same though; for best results during flowering you need 3 days straight with night lows not below 12C, and daytime highs not below 17C. Not a problem in Adelaide, I suspect. You also need a resident population of bees of course.

I bought a grafted bacon the same day we got the kids a kitten. The graft was broken within an hour of recieving... I have not been able to locate another one yet. Reports I've heard range from excellent to horrible, so I'm still in the dark there too.

Your wilting and dying problem was probably due to phytophora root rot, more likely if the plant had standing water around the trunk for any period of time. I've visited Adelaide several times (even met my wife there!) and from my memories air conditioning not standing water was the major problem, but I guess january tends to be a little different from july.

The other possible cause is due to hot drying winds. Avos are of course rainforest trees, and if you are lucky, it was cliamtic rather than root rot. Put your tree into a sheltered humid spot in the sun, and it should fruit well for you. If it is phytophera, there are a number of chemicals you can use to help. I am more inclined towards organics, and here in NZ most commercial growers use mulch, which has phytophera-suppressing qualities as well as moisture and fertility aspects. Use Acacia mulch if you can get it, it is high in N and seems to be particularly good at supressing phytophera.

I don't know your growing conditions or climate but I do have a couple of Bacon. The fruit of Bacon is watery, has less oil content and is very light in flavor compared to Hass. The fruit also matures in about 9 months, if you let them set much longer they start to crack on the bottom and the seed gets loose inside and a mold developes. But over all it's ok. just not my favorite.

Here in Southern California my trees require frequent watering as long as the water does not stand around. Doing so has stopped most of my problems with growth or wilting or edges turning brown and dying etc. My trees are extremely healthy and bear lots of fruit. One Hass I have is 12 feet tall and is carrying about 400 fruit currently, it's just loaded. My biggest problem when I started was all the reading about root rot and my not wanting to water them for fear of root rot, I continued to increase the water until I met that happy medium where the trees do not show stress specially during windy or extremely warm conditions. I also fertilize lightly about once a month except during flowering and fruit set. Just my opinnion so as not to cause any type of shock during this crucial period.

Why don't you try Sharwil?

The above followup was added by AlexG on June 07, 2005 at 8:32 pm PST.

Ok so now I know you ar ein Adelaide : ). Well My opinion on Bacon is diferent to Alex's I think it's one of the premium varieties, for me it's very rich in oil and flavour. It all depends if you like the flavour of Avocados or not, if not the Guatemalan ones will serve your tastes better, Hass, Reed, Sharwil, Pinkerton (just tasted one for the first time last week, SUPREME: )), things like this.

In my climate Bacon is _MuCH_ stronger in flavour than Hass we are talking an easy 10 times more flavour, could even be called resinous, you wouldn't want to eat it straight without anything else, but for a dip or on toast, it's the stuff, premium. So that's why you will hear some people say Bacon is rusbish and some say it's one of the best Avocados, it just depends on what kind of Avocado you enjoy.

If you are growing a Hass and a Reed, for maximum fruit set you will want a late flowering type B Avocado to polinate them, something like Etinger or Shawil would be good. I would say your wilting problem would be related to sunburn in Adelaide unless it happened in Winter, but knowing Adelaide and how easy Avocados get heat stressed I'd say that would be what happened a few 40+ days without shade would toast a young tree pretty good.

Lam are you a memeber of the Rare fruit growers of South Australia? they have meetings every month and would be great for you since they are based in your home town. I don't think they are quite so legendary as us rare fruit fruit growers from Southern Victoria :p since they have a much easier climate, but it seems be be a good club.

If you want a small Avocado tree you can try Rincon it gets massive fruit set like Hass does but is a stronger tasting one and is a smaller tree

Jason

The above followup was added by Jason on June 08, 2005 at 3:00 am PST.

Bacon seems to me like one of those fruits where people either hate them or love them (another typical one is the black sapote). I have read sites where it is said that the Bacon is good and oily and the other where it is bland. Actually I am so curious now that I think my backyard will now have room for a Bacon :-) ...and perhaps a Rincon if I can find one. Damn only we bought a bigger block of land or my wife let me have a hobby farm sooner (I wish!)And yes, I hope the local Mitre 10 store still have that healthy Bacon tree that I placed a hold on the weekend!

I enjoyed it a lot, not oily like Hass, it was slightly nutty tasting, and a little sweet. It was refreshing, actually like eating a fruit, and not eating a Hass which can be at times like eating butter, if the oil content is high.

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